1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method of determining the selection and timing of maintenance tasks to perform on a facility as it ages and, more particularly, to a method of doing the same to a nuclear power plant.
2. Description of the Related Art
Different types of costs of varying degrees are associated with the operation of a facility such as a nuclear power plant. As such, great difficulty has been encountered in determining whether or not proactive maintenance activities are cost justified. Such difficulty has been compounded by the different sets of failure data from different sources that are associated with the various components of a nuclear power plant, and has been further compounded by the varying criticalities of the different components of the nuclear power plant.
A need thus exists for a method of selecting and planning the proactive performance of maintenance activities and other activities for a facility such as a nuclear power plant. This need includes the need to provide a basis for analyzing the economic feasibility of various activities that could be performed proactively at various times and for optimization. A need also exists for a method of combining different sets of data, such as failure data from different sources that might include industry data, fleet data, expert data, data that is specific to a given facility, data from a manufacturer, as well as data from other sources, in order to improve the accuracy of predicting the failure of various elements or components of the facility. A need also exists for enabling such activities to be planned according to a budget and to be performed in accordance with a maintenance plan.